Naruto: The Demon of the Library
by Pokepika's Haunt
Summary: Warning: Fem!Naru fanfic, rated T for safety more inside! Pairings undecided as of yet! Narumi stumbled upon an old abandoned library one rainy night in Konoha, setting into motion a series of events that will change everything! More inside- Episode 5 is up!
1. Welcome to the Demon's Library

A/N. Ok I know I've already started another Naruto fanfic, and not even gotten the second chapter out yet for it, but I had this sudden flash of inspiration, probably originating from my love of books and I always wondered how everything would have turned out if canon!Naruto had a love or at least a good amount of respect for books and the knowledge that they carry within them, and I also want to wait till I get at least two reviews for it before I post the second chapter. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this one! Oh, and yes this is a Fem!Naruto fanfic.

Summary: In the ninja village of Konohagakure, there lays an old, almost completely forgotten library. Within that library hides a demon who thrives within its dark walls…

When she was six, Narumi Uzumaki stumbled upon an old library. Lost, cold, and losing hope, she decided to take shelter inside the ancient building, and met Kaede, the old woman who ran the library. Taught and raised by the old woman from then on, Narumi grew to respect the books that surrounded her in her new home. Now guided by their knowledge and Kaede's teachings, Narumi will strive to gain the power necessary to protect what is precious to her and become Hokage of her village. But the road will not be easy, strife with many hurdles to overcome, but if there is one thing that she inherited from Kaede beside her almost endless well of knowledge, it's the old woman's stubbornness and tenacity, and Narumi will succeed or die trying. **Warning: Smart, book-loving Fem!Naru fanfic set in an AU. Please don't let that ruin the story for you however.**

_(Sasuke: That sounds so wrong, you just don't put Naruto and books in the same sentence…)_

_(Me: Shut it Duck Butt! It's my fanfic, I can make Naruto a book-loving girl that can still kick your butt every day of the dang week if I dang well want to. You are not the author here, I am. Now shut up and sit back and wait until I decide to bring you into the story, if at all.)_

_(Sakura: Don't talk bad about Sasuke-kun! You're just jealous because you know for a fact he could write a better book then you ever could!)_

_(Me: Yeah right Pinky! He's too busy trying to kill everybody, and after he near killed all of you, I'm shocked your still chasing after him, especially since it's plainly obvious that he is not interested in you or any of his other fangirls. Oh wait, you're the pre-time skip Sakura, you're supposed to get on my nerves. Never mind!)_

Anyways time for disclaimer!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

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**Prologue: A Safer Haven- The Demons' Library!**

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It was night, the moon high in the air, or would've been if one could see it through the dark, thick, gray clouds that blocked sky above from view. The temperature was almost below freezing, not helped at all by the rain that poured down mercilessly on any unlucky enough to be caught in its wake. A young girl, no older than five, maybe six years in age, slowly walked through the muddy roads, bare feet hitting the ground with a sickening sound as she trudged through the muck. She shivered, pale, almost white, blonde hair all but glued to her face as she continued the long torturous trek home. Blue eyes stared ahead through the pouring rain, dulled with a look of utter emptiness, only obtained when one seemed to be close to losing all hope in life and giving up. It was true of course, the young child had been ostracized for as long as she'd been able to remember, for no reason that she could clearly remember.

People had called her a demon, claimed that she had murdered people, of course she wasn't sure, and she highly doubted she could have, but still the people of her village, Konohagakure, insisted and shunned her. She had wanted to prove them wrong, to gain their respect, so she chose to one day become Hokage. Asking the kind old man who currently held the position to allow her into the academy was a good start in her mind, but the teachers there refused to help her, all save for one that is. Instead, they pushed her down and made sure she failed, went out of their way to make sure she learned nothing to accomplish her goals. To keep the demon from regaining its strength so it could attack the village and take its revenge they had said. Last she checked she felt no reason to want to kill anybody for such things. Still, it made for a lonely, difficult life so far, and she was beginning to feel disheartened.

She was shaken from her depressing thoughts as a particularly cold wind hit her, easily bypassing the thin, water-soaked clothes she was wearing. She was definitely not dressed to be in this weather, and any longer outside, and she might catch pneumonia or worse. A quick look around however only served to dampen her mood as she realized she had no idea where she was. None of the surrounding buildings looked familiar at all, and there was no real signs of life anywhere, even if there was she was sure they wouldn't offer her shelter from the rain however. Still she had to keep moving.

Finally she caught sight of an at least half decent shelter. What looked to be an old abandoned building of some sort. She quickly ran inside, trying to rub some warmth into her arms once she was out of the rain finally.

"Now what do we have here?" a voice came from behind her, causing her to turn around in surprise,

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'll leave right now I-"

"Don't you dare go back out in that pouring rain! That is no weather for a young child to be wandering about in. You're staying right here until it passes." The owner of the voice, an old woman, said sternly,

"Ah…T-Thank you…" the child said, a tone of surprise and disbelief could be heard in her voice. This old woman was letting _her _stay here with her? The village pariah, the child who everybody else seemed to want dead and buried six feet under? Unheard of as far as she herself had been concerned.

"My name is Kaede Tsukuyo, but you can call me Gram-Gram little one. Now what is your name?" the old woman, Kaede or rather Gram-Gram asked in a gentle, kind voice.

"N-Narumi miss-I mean Gram-Gram, m-my name is Narumi Uzumaki." The old woman's eyes widened in response, and Narumi vacantly wondered if she should've lied instead, would the old woman kick her out now?

"Narumi Uzumaki? You're the child that everybody ridicules and calls a demon." The woman stated rather then asked, Narumi still felt the need to nod her head. "Now, now. Don't you worry that pretty little pale head of yours. You'll always be welcome here. Unlike those fools in the village, I can actually tell the difference between a scroll and the kunai sealed within." Kaede said, shuffling her clothes as she snorted indignantly at the mere thought of the other villagers. Narumi couldn't help but giggle slightly in amusement, finding the woman's reactions slightly funny, she went quiet though as something she said had bothered her.

"Um…G-Gram-Gram…You said those fools in the village."

"Yes? What about it?"

"Well, i-isn't this place also a part of the village? What is this place anyways?" Narumi asked as she surveyed the interior more closely. There were shelves after shelves of books, from one wall to the next, and though the place was obviously old and largely unused, it looked like until maybe about ten or so years ago, it had been visited a lot by many people.

"It's a library, a place where people come to read books. My child, haven't you ever been inside one before?" Narumi shook her head in response, causing the woman to act like she had just admitted to committing some sort of heinous crime, "My dear, you have been missing out on quite a bit then. Books are the messengers of Kami herself! They are wells of knowledge, able to bring a person to far off lands that one could only hope to visit! To place oneself in another's shoes! They are wonderful gifts to mankind! To not have even read one might as well be a crime!"

"Um…I'm sorry…B-but none of the v-villagers would even l-let me near their stores, let alone read a b-book." Kaede sniffled indignantly, turning her nose up in an action largely reminiscent to the members of the Hyuuga Clan, who all seemed to have a stick shoved so far up their butts you couldn't see either end.

"Well then, my child, you have been deprived of a great thing." Suddenly the woman seemed to be struck with an amazing idea, or at least an idea that she herself considered amazing, "Narumi, how would you like to live here in the library with me?" Narumi really couldn't believe her ears now. This kind old lady, wanted someone, something like herself to live in the same building as her. She felt faint.

"I-I-Are you sure? Y-you wouldn't mind?" Kaede gave her a gentle smile in response.

"Of course I'm sure, I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't. Besides, you my child, need to learn the importance of books and the knowledge that they carry within them."

"T-Thank you…" Narumi was now in tears when she said this. Nobody, except for the current hokage and the old man that ran the ramen stand and his daughter, had even been this nice to her before. Nobody. She was beside herself as she ran up to hug the old woman, "Thank you… Gram-Gram."

"Nothing at all my dear, nothing at all…"

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A/N. Well that's the first chapter, or prologue really. I hope you guys enjoyed the story, and please review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading and see ya!


	2. Enter Narumi! -Demon of the Library

A/N. Ok, so occasionally taking the time to read through my own fanfics does have its own little perks. So I've decided to update this one, it's been a while… I'll eventually update all of them at least once of course… I just need to wait for the right inspiration to hit me. Anyways, I hope you guys like the chapter and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**EP 1: Enter Narumi Tsukuyo; the Demon of the Library!**

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"Narumi, you little brat! Where are you?" A voice echoed through the large, seemingly endless, darkened room. The sunlight peeking in through streams from dusty windows as an old woman, near impossible to guess the age of, walked in. A walking stick in hand the woman strolled through the various aisles created by heavy bookshelves, just as old as the rest of the structure and its contents but still well taken care of, eyes scanning over her surroundings like that of a hawk as it hunted for prey. She stopped once she found what she was looking for, a young girl, barely a week away from turning twelve, with long blonde hair that fell in waves, and due to the slight curls in it, came just short of the back of her knees.

The old woman would've cut it so it was more manageable length, but the child had been adamant on allowing it to grow to its obviously now very ridiculous length. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure how the child that she had suddenly found herself in the care of almost half a decade ago managed it all in the morning when getting ready for school, what with how dust filled the place tended to get and with the child's admittedly lovely locks catching all the dirt and grime like a mop or broom. Considering how quickly the girl could get ready however, obviously it was a lot easier than the aged woman originally thought.

"Narumi, you silly thing, get up already." The woman chided gently as she poked the now obviously asleep child, only managing to get a grumble for a response as the girl, Narumi, rolled over in some half-hearted attempt to get away from the sharp jabbing. She couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the sight, let it never be said aloud, and the old woman would be damned before she ever openly admitted it, but as stubborn as this child could be at times, there was one thing she could say for sure and that was that it was probably the child's overall demeanor that had won her over in the end.

And all in a matter of minutes after meeting each other no less.

"Five more minutes…" She snorted at the request, giving a slight cough before she poked at the overtly stubborn child again.

"You don't have five more minutes Gaki. Three more minutes and you'll be late for school." At that Narumi immediately shot up faster than a kunai being flung in the midst of battle, taking off in a slightly sprint as the eleven year old ran up the stairs to get ready.

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"See ya Obaa-chan!" The old woman couldn't stop herself from blinking as she caught sight of a yellow blur rushing past out of the corner of her eye. Huffing, the rough sound quickly dissolved into a series of chuckles as the old woman returned to brushing off the front yard of her store. Regardless of what was sold inside, or whether or not people even frequented her shop, it did not matter. She was a librarian after all, and even if her profession didn't sell things, she still needed to keep appearances. Her body may have aged with all these years, but her pride and determination in what she did hadn't weakened yet.

That was probably one of the most important things she had taught that little girl in the six or so years she had been in her care.

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Let it never be said that she was very impressive in things she did, she would be the first to swallow her pride and admit that she was in no way perfect, nor was there anything in particular about herself that she saw as something for others to be jealous of. But if there was one thing she could boast about, it was her plentiful knowledge in the layout of the village and her speed. Which to her knowledge had yet to be matched by any of her more privileged peers. She may not have been the strongest, or the most intelligent when it came to strategy. (No, that was held by Shikamaru of the Nara clan. Lazy as the boy was, he had a talent for strategy that not even the esteemed Hyuuga clan with their all-seeing eyes, or even the Yamanaka with their mind based abilities could match. And maybe that was the most frightening thing about him.) But with her almost limitless stamina and speed, she could run circles around even the best of them.

Despite only having three minutes to get to class, and with where she lived being on basically the other side of the city, she still managed to make it on time to class. And a good two minutes before their teacher showed up to take attendance.

"Another close call, Narumi-chwan?" The blonde girl flinched at the sound of the irritating nickname, slowly turning herself around to face the speaker, a stout girl with messy brown hair and a rough appearance. Her expression was an interesting combination between anger and smugness, and the girl's face was always scrunched up in either a perpetual scowl that was probably supposed to be some sort of smirk or snide grin, or a nasty glare. Sometimes, depending on her response, or if she even gave one at all, she'd get a harsh shove for her efforts, occasionally spat on though the girl's aim was awful with anything other than her fists and feet (even then she got more misses than actual hits.) so that usually wound up either angering someone else because they had gotten hit instead or completely missing everyone and thing all together.

"Takira Kumuso…" She nodded her head in greeting. Honestly she didn't feel much like getting into a confrontation with the only girl that was probably more bullied than her. And all because she lacked the skills severely needed to survive as a shinobi of the leaf village. There was hope for her of course, if she just put the right amount of effort in, Narumi had heard tale of an older boy from a few grades that had graduated and become a shinobi, without the use of chakra and by extension two of what was seen as some of the more essential skillsets of the ninja. But she didn't, too busy attempting to make others feel worse about themselves in order to make herself feel better. Of course she also got the occasional comment on her rather "horrid" appearance, but those were more often met with the wild punches with way too much power placed into them that she was known for. Punches that when they landed, usually broke noses and sent other, much bigger children running for either their parents or to the school nurse. "Look, I don't want to fight with you today, so can we just give it a rest? Just this once, please?" Narumi's plea went unheard however, the far more violent girl refusing to back down even if it was for the better of her own health and to keep them out of trouble.

"Getting snippy are we, Narumi-chwan?"

"You know I hate that…" Narumi's voice was low, her tone warning as she continued to stare at the other calmly, expression deceptively blank and her eyes giving away nothing.

"What? Narumi-chwan? Well it's gotta be better than some of the other nicknames you got." And as if to further prove her point she felt the need to list them all. "Slut, whore, bitch? How about… Oh… What's that last one? Oh yeah, MONSTER! Oh, and we can't forget the best one. Everybody's favorite… DEMON."

Narumi was reminded of something that the old woman who took care of her had told her once, what felt like a long time ago. How if one repeated something enough times, it began to lose its meaning, and how life was the same way. It seemed that it was true in a way. You get called bad names such as that enough times, and the bite they once held becomes dull, the sting a lot less painful. Insults and derogatory terms that had once made her cry and feel so insecure now just left her with a bitter pit of anger in her stomach, and a raging fire that would need to be quelled before she seriously hurt someone, which would result her needlessly getting in trouble and causing a mess for Kaede.

"…" She chose to say nothing in response to all the jabs that the other had hoped would garner a reaction. She couldn't trust herself to speak without lashing out at her unnecessarily volatile classmate, so instead she turned away, leaving the other to stand in her pit of rage and unbridled anger at being ignored, as she went to go find herself a place to sit.

It was days like these that she remembered that the endlessly lazy Nara Shikamaru was in her class, and thanked whatever deities there may be for placing him there. He was a godsend on days like these when her temper ran surprisingly short and she needed to sit near someone who wasn't liable to anger her to the point of violence. Something she tried to avoid simply for the sake of the kind old woman that had taken her in.

"You'd think she'd learn by now that saying things like that don't make her look any better… It just makes her look more _ugly_." She blinked in shock, finding her bottled anger quickly draining away at the calm and near dead tone that the Nara boy was always famous for. "Honestly, I don't see why you didn't just punch her. She deserves it."

"Yeah, she does. But in the end it'd only cause problems for Obaa-san." She found herself saying without really thinking it over first.

"Hmph, how troublesome…"

"Yeah… it is."

"Ohayo. Well, looks like everybody's here, let's get started..."

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A/N. So what did you guys think? Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!


	3. The Genin Exam Pt 1

A/N. Well here's the third chapter, hope you guys enjoy it!

To Guest: Yeah, I think I missed two of them actually, or at least I only see what I think might be two insults. I get the pug one, though that wasn't what I was thinking of. And Pugs are really cute in my opinion, especially when they are puppies. As for the family thing, I can honestly say I actually don't have a relative that looks like that. Or acts that way for that matter. It's just that when I was imagining a good bully, that's what came out. I would like to find out the insults though if you don't mind.

Now to answer your question, probably yes. I still need to do a little research on the specific types of shinobi that are seen and/or mentioned in the Naruto Universe. So I don't know yet, but yeah, that's probably it.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**EP 2: What It Takes to Be A Ninja Pt.1- The Genin Exam!**

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"_The shinobi are warriors who work from behind the scenes; assassins who take pride in their ability to blend into the darkness and take their opponents out without anyone being the wiser. They are often seen as tools, their fighting style very different from that of the samurais and their more affront and honorable ways. They work in secret and take pride in their ability to use the shadows to their fullest…"_

"A Complete History of the Shinobi? Wow, that sounds like the biggest snooze fest." Narumi gave the speaker a side long glance, taking her attention only partially away from the book as she stared at the currently lazing Nara Boy, as she had taken to calling him ever since she had met him.

"This coming from the boy who could probably pass as the poster child for laziness." She replied, her voice teasing as she took a bookmark and gently placed it in between the pages, marking her place so she wouldn't lose it later. "I swear you might just hold the school record for total times you've slept in class. I don't even think the Yasuraka heiress sleeps as much as you do, and she has the worst case of narcolepsy anyone's ever seen." Shikamaru huffed in response, his cheeks a barely noticeable shade of pink as he all but slumped over the desk, eyes looking more towards the window rather than his companion as he proceeded to pout like a four year old not getting their way.

"How troublesome… It's not my fault that class is a waste of time and unnecessarily boring." His behavior, added with his response only rewarded him with the sounds of the slightly younger girl laughing in amusement at him, hand raised to cover her mouth in a surprisingly girlish gesture.

"Well we all can't be geniuses like you, now can we? Hm, Nara Boy?" She once again said, poking his arm to further emphasize her teasing as she gave an almost condescending smirk. Almost, simply for the fact that they both knew she just couldn't act condescending if she tried. She just wasn't arrogant enough, in fact almost the exact opposite, and they both would always agree that both the Hyuuga clan and Uchiha clan, back when it had been far more numerous and not whittled down to a measly three very traumatized members, would always hold the crown for that little trait.

"Why must you call me that? You call everyone by their last names at the very least, full names if you don't like them… But you always call me 'Nara Boy', why?" At Shikamaru's question, Narumi gave an all too familiar grin, her eyes glittering with barely contained mischief as she leaned over slightly to whisper in his ear.

"That's. Because. You. Are. Lazy." She gave another laugh as she leaned back, watching with glee as the Nara Boy's face turned a very interesting shade of beet red in embarrassment before continuing her explanation. "Get rid of the laziness and I'll stop calling you Nara Boy." She finished, raising her arms above her head as she arced her back, stretching to get the stiffness that had settled into her spine while she had been hunched over reading. "Ah, but then you wouldn't be Shikamaru, would you?" She added on as an afterthought, not really thinking upon her words too much before she had said them.

"Troublesome woman." The older boy huffed, hand reaching up to scratch at the back of his head before he went back to his overtly slouched state, his form as limp as a ragdoll as he practically laid himself out on it. His eyes wound up closing, resting for a few minutes before finally opening again to drift back to the book that Narumi had brought with her. "You got that from the library right? That place that Old Lady Kaede runs." Narumi turned her gaze on him once again, looking at him with a quirked eyebrow before finally responding.

"Yeah, we both live there remember?" She said, still looking at him in confusion. "Or did you suddenly forget how you almost always spend the time after school and even most of the days that we have off amidst the dusty shelves with me?" She questioned, looking at him again with yet another quirked eyebrow, her tone dripping with both exasperation at his behavior and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"Troublesome Woman, I didn't forget. I was just curious." Shikamaru bit back in response, though honestly his friendship with the other, however small it might have been, and his overall disposition took a lot of the bite out of it. "Is it any good?" He continued, hoping to change the subject a little without the other noticing. Narumi could be surprisingly observant when she wanted to be, a trait that would make her an astounding shinobi and probably one of the best of the intelligence division.

Deception was key when it came to being a shinobi, a trait that often meant the difference between life and death, and just how long you managed to survive in this cruel profession they had both been placed into. If one could truly to deceive ones opponents into believing what they wanted them to, then they would almost always have the upper hand. As it turned out, to Shikamaru's greatest chagrin, Narumi almost always had the upper hand when it came to their conversations. The eleven year old took great joy in teasing him into embarrassment and could very easily win a conversation with just the right information, all because of the way she'd grown up. A method of raising children that bred them into the most deceptive and unnervingly observant people he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Whether that be completely true or not.

He sighed as he realized his diversion had failed, Narumi giving a smug smile as she gave into his wishes for a change of topic.

She knew she had won this little bout of theirs.

"Well, in a way yes. As far as information goes, it's actually surprisingly detailed… that's also the problem though. It's too detailed. The key facts and what is utmost necessary for one to know is lost amidst the jumble of pretty words and eloquent language. In the end it just serves to be, as you said, a boring read that's far too long and from which a person can't learn a thing." She heaved a sigh as she placed the book back down in an obvious sign of defeat and disappointment. The book had failed her expectations.

"Surprisingly detailed in what way?"

"This book is old, one of the oldest in the library. I found it buried under a pile of more recent books yesterday afternoon, so I can honestly say I wasn't expecting much to begin with when I read the title and decided I'd give it a try. Compared to what we know now and the information that is given in our textbooks, its abysmal, but it's also a lot closer to what they have today than they did when this was written."

"And that would be?"

"Thirty years, at the most four decades ago. See here?" Shikamaru shuffled slightly as he leaned over to look at what she had been pointing at, a pale finger directing his attention to a series of what seemed like utter nonsense; nothing more than a jumbled mess of letters and numbers only made worse by the wear and tear as a result of the passage of time. He couldn't help but recognize the feeling of his eye twitching in slight irritation.

"No, I can't see. The inks faded out making the whole thing illegible." He snapped, pushing the book away and back into Narumi's general space. "Troublesome Woman."

"Quite calling me that, Nara Boy. I'm not troublesome."

"I'll stop calling you that as soon as you stop calling me Nara Boy."

"Not happenin' Nara Boy, you're still one lazy ass!"

"And you're still rude and swear. Didn't Old Lady Kaede tell you to stop that?"

"What are you my mother?" Shikamaru spluttered at that comment, about to object but Narumi continued without giving him time to do so, "Obaa-san gave up in the end."

"Sheesh… Troublesome woman…" He practically fell out of his seat as Narumi took an unexpected swipe at his head, the boy just barely managing to duck in time for it go over his head, hitting nothing but empty air.

"Ok class, settle down." Their sensei finally walked in, unusually slow in getting to class today, and finally putting an abrupt end to their childish banter.

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"As you all should know, today is the Graduation Exam." Iruka Umino, a chunin and one of two shinobi that taught the class at the academy began, body standing firm and tall as he stared evenly at his students. Standing behind him was the, as always, familiar white hair of his friend and co-worker, as well as assistant teacher, Mizuki. Narumi couldn't remember his last name, just that something about him had always struck her as off. "First, we'll pass out the written portion and then we'll administer the practical exam. Once you're done with your written tests, place them on the front desk, here." He paused in his explanation to further emphasize the instructions by placing his hand on his desk, before continuing. "And afterwards head back to your seats and wait for the others to finish. You may take this free time to read books, but remember, no talking! Once everyone is done with the written portion will continue onto the practical exam, which will be split up into three sections; the weapons test, the taijutsu test, and finally ninjutsu. The taijutsu portion of the practical exam will be held as a mini tournament between students. We'll be holding the weapons test first, and ninjutsu test will be held last." Iruka stepped down for a moment to allow for Mizuki to take over the rest of the explanations while he searched for the written tests they were supposed to be taking.

"The ninjutsu that we'll be testing you on today are the academy basics, ones you should've mastered already. And that is, the Transformation technique, the Bunshin jutsu, and finally substitution. You must be able to perform all three to be able to pass and receive your headband. Does everyone understand?" A resounding _"Hai!" _was the students' response as everyone settled down and Iruka finally began passing the necessary items out.

From her seat, Narumi sat, looking surprisingly calm despite the fact that she was generally known for being horribly at the Bunshin jutsu, not to mention her lack of skill in taijutsu. While one was more lenient in the grading, and not an absolute must, she'd need to be able to make a perfect copy of herself should she truly want to graduate from the academy and finally become a shinobi of Konohagakure. She actually probably would've graduated earlier, had any of her previous teachers bothered to actually get up from their seats and physically check the clones she had created. Her vast amounts of chakra thanks to her lineage having resulted in her having far too much to allow her to create such a small scale illusion with the miniscule control she had had over it at the time, and so she had always wound up placing too much into the jutsu, resulting in her clones being solid but ill and more often than not, colorless.

Kaede had trained her in the art of controlling her chakra, not at all like the other adults who shunned and ignored her, allowing her to slip through the cracks as they paid increasing attention to the other students and went explicitly out of their way to sabotage her. She had had no problem taking the, at the time, small child aside and performing a thorough scan of her chakra networks before finally figuring out what the problem was, and then getting to work on fixing it. She still couldn't create a proper illusion of herself like the Bunshin jutsu was supposed to create, without it looking malformed or horribly ill, but Kaede had said it might take a lot longer for her to gain that much control. And in the end those like her who had vast amounts of chakra and the stamina needed to make use of it were more suited to the more complex illusions that took more amounts of chakra, and of course, much more solid cloning jutsu that required near lethal amounts that she could easily give out without worry of exhaustion.

The old woman had taken the time to train her to what she had seen as a suitable level for a shinobi in training, still attending the academy, taught her what she could in her old age, and did her best to recruit those that could do what she no longer could when she felt the need. She refused to allow all of Kaede's hard work to go to waste, she would not fail the graduation exam this time around. Vivid blue eyes burned with a barely hidden determination as she began the written portion of her test. _'I _will_ pass.'_

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A/N. Ok, so sorry for the lack of action in this chapter, but hopefully there will be a fight scene soon. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! Please leave a review and see ya!


	4. The Genin Exam Pt 2

A/N. … Ok, so I don't remember what color I had Narumi's hair as… And I don't much feel like going back to double check… So from now on, her hair is the same color as Kushina's in the anime. If you want to know what she looks like I just uploaded a hand drawn picture of her a little while ago… The quality probably isn't the best, but my best camera is probably my ipod touch, and I suck at drawing feet. Anyways, hope you enjoy the story and sorry for not updating in a while, my computer had an unexpected crash and refused to work any longer.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**EP 3: The Genin Exam Pt. 2**

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"Kuso…" It could've been either the high tensions running through her classmates as they gathered around the training field located at the back of the academy, circling it like hungry vultures waiting for the slaughter, or maybe it was just the fact that she was surrounded by a lot of people she normally didn't get along with on a regular basis or even bothered to socialize with for that matter, but she felt old anxieties and fears she had thought Kaede had long gotten rid of from when she was smaller and had no real home or safe place to hide in cropping up once again. It turned her into a nervous wreck, hands wringing together nervously even after she had returned the weapon to the teachers as she worried her bottom lip in an old habit that had stemmed from nervousness and a shyness that had even outmatched the Hyuuga heiress back then. Either way, she had a horrible feeling that no matter who she got put up against in the upcoming mock tournament, she was going to lose and badly at that. She wasn't even going to think of how the other students would mock her for failing to pass the genin exam yet again, making for quite the humiliating total of four times or the fact that Kaede might actually beat her for wasting her time with all the training she had put the young girl through.

"Narumi." If she had still been holding that kunai, a certain lazy genius would've probably lost his head.

"Goddamn it! You stupid, idiotic, senseless, injudicious, imprudent, careless…" Narumi could've gone on and on with a large list of terribly big words that may or may not have been difficult to spell for some, had the usually lazy boy not clapped a hand straight over her mouth to stop her little tirade short. The bookish girl was fairly sure she had managed to keep herself at a moderate volume at least, guiet enough that the other students hadn't heard her string of insults that more or less meant the same thing, since none of them were looking their way, but she couldn't have been entirely sure. For all she knew they were simply ignoring the pair, she did have a tendency to lose control of the volume of her voice when she was nervous and/or angry. Especially when she was nervous and someone had had the bright idea of sneaking up on her, whether intentional or not, because then would go to anger and her voice would reach all new pitches she was not entirely proud of.

"Narumi, back to earth please." Shikamaru's sarcasm wound up lost on the other, who simply blinked at him in a daze. Obviously she hadn't been entirely paying attention to him, she had been far too lost in her own thoughts. He sighed at her behavior, not entirely sure how to go about accomplishing his self-appointed mission, and the only reason as to why he had bothered grabbing the formerly steaming girl in the first place. "Wow, you're normally not this distracted…"

"Oh shut up you bumbling idiot! You do realize that if I still had that kunai Iruka-sensei gave us, you'd be searching for a new head right?" She bit back, yanking his hand from over her mouth so she could clearly be heard. Shikamaru simply deadpanned, expression only managing to grate further on her already frayed nerves as he finally replied.

"Why do you think I came over now instead of sooner… You have reflexes that could kill should the situation call for it." He leaned back slightly, stretching before finally slouching down into the familiar lazy posture Narumi had grown used to over the three years they had been around each other. "Troublesome woman, I'm not that stupid…" The other simply huffed, glaring at him from behind an admittedly pretty shade of red colored bangs, the girl actually pouting of all things as she decided to leave him without a response, hand latching on to his wrist with an unnaturally tight grip and dragging him off to find a better view point of the battles to come. They would both need a good spot to better see their classmates, Shikamaru so he could devise better strategies that involved the minimum amount of work possible and at the same time the least amount of damages sustained for himself, while Narumi just wanted to see her classmates beat the living shit out of each other. However well behaved she normally was, she still liked to see a good fist fight every once in a while. "Quit worrying, you'll be just fine."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, you baka!" She ordered, finally finding a spot that met her standards before sitting down, forcing the lazy shinobi-in-training to join her not even a few seconds afterwards. "Thanks..." It was small, and barely above a whisper, honestly he would've missed it if he hadn't happened to land as close to his younger friend as he had, but he couldn't help the small smile that came to his face, pleased that his attempt at cheering her up had succeeded.

"Hmph, Troublesome woman." He called out, allowing for a rather heavy hand to land on her head, ruffling the ridiculously long strands of hair. "Anytime, after all, what are friends for?" He completely missed the ruby red blush that had overcome Narumi's face at the gesture, hidden behind soft hair and head hung low as if the weight of his hand was the cause. They both broke into fits of laughter however as a small fight broke out, Narumi swatting at his hand as the other laughed at her attempts to stop his messing around with her hair.

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"Tsukuyo Narumi." The anxiety was back once again, the whole of the once excited crowd going surprisingly quiet as the recently turned twelve year old stood up and began to slowly make her way through the throngs of students crowding close to the lines of the battlefield. The earth was already scarred from several battles prior, a particular match between the youngest surviving Uchiha and an overconfident Inuzuka heir leaving the battlefield war torn and overtly singed. Someone had gotten a little fire happy unfortunately, and it had only been fueled by a determination to do the two remaining members of his family proud and the unnecessary goading and insults thrown by the obnoxiously loud boy at his traumatizing past had led to a very fierce battle that had ended with the Inuzuka boy needed to be taken to the infirmary for third degree burns.

The smoke that was still wafting from off of the charred ground didn't help her nervousness much either.

"You prepared to get your ass handed to ya, Narumi-chwan?" She couldn't help but wince. Great, her opponent was Takira. Honestly she would've preferred that Haruno girl, or even Yamanaka Ino, but she had to be put up against the one person who had specifically gone out of her way to make her feel miserable. She couldn't help the frustrated sigh that escaped her lips, forget the nervousness, by the time this was over, she was probably going to have the grandmaster king of headaches.

It didn't help at all when Iruka had placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, as good as his intentions had been, and wished her good luck. Good luck wasn't going to spare her any of the frustration this little match was going to bring about, and she was fairly certain that she'd at least be coming out of this with more bruises and broken bones than anything else in the world. At least the teachers had been smart for once and forbid the use of jutsu or long distance throwing weapons for this portion of the exam. Takira had the worst aim out of all of her classmates, including herself, and unfortunately the additional usage of throwing weapons would've resulted in the teachers having to protect the others rather than watching the test. The older, more brutish girl would never hit her actual target, and instead completely miss and wind up hitting the nearby spectators.

"This is going to be so much fun…" The sarcasm went completely ignored by the teachers, though she could swear that she could faintly hear Mizuki snickering silently from behind the cover provided by Iruka.

"Ready, GO!" Like the sound of a shuriken slicing through the air, the other girl took off, lunging at Narumi with careless abandon, fist cocked high and curled tight. It missed however, the swing far too wide to hit anything and passed harmlessly overhead as Narumi stepped into the girl's guard, before swiftly ducking underneath the outstretched arm. She took it in a tight grasp, putting all of her weight behind it, before throwing the girl wide and back into the direction she had come charging from originally, sending Takira skidding across the battlefield before finally rolling onto her feet just a few inches short of the out-of-bounds line.

Her expression was one of outright fury, but she did surprisingly well at hiding it, a nasty frown quickly morphing into a hideous grin as a pair of hands curled into tight fists once again and bigger girl charged forward for another go, roaring like a mad animal the whole entire time. She lacked the grace or finesse that was expected of a shinobi, she was far too loud for her own good, even simple footsteps might as well have been her stomping around like an elephant, but for all the other girl was worth, and despite the fact she had been born the unruly daughter of a one of the many store clerks in the village, she had power that was severely lacking in the majority of her family. A foreign toughness about her that had on more than one occasion resulted in Narumi speculating that maybe she was the descendant of one of the more forward and honorable samurai from the Land of Iron somewhere in the north. The girl was all muscle, and she knew how to throw it around, the only thing that would've made her more deadly being if she could actually aim properly for once in her short life. It would've been stupid to try and take one of her wild charges head on. The only problem for Narumi was, that unfortunately as it might've been.

She was known for doing some rather stupid things herself sometimes.

Taking a deep breath, she ran headlong, more than one of her classmates, and even both of her teachers gaping at her as if she had lost her mind.

She very well might've.

Until she suddenly went sliding on her knees and in between the charging bull's legs, kicking up dust and dirt in her wake and leaving her knees and lower legs scrapped and bleeding. She didn't let it stop her however, and within the blink of an eye, was up and both feet again, spinning around rapidly with her leg raised high in a round house kick that left Takira more than a little dizzy as it made contact, sending the poor girl sprawling to the ground. Narumi quickly backed off, not daring to try and push her luck by keeping up the attack. She knew that that probably hadn't been enough to the put the much larger girl down for good, but keeping up the attack in hopes of keeping her down would've been just as stupid as her head long charge at the girl had been. Takira was an iron wall, of solid muscle and unbridled power. She could wail on the other all she wanted, but the amount of damage she would've done would've probably been miniscule, and in the end she would've worn herself out, and as a result, left herself completely helpless to the other once she finally gathered her wits about her and picked herself up from the ground.

She knew this from all the confrontations they had had prior to this, when they had dissolved into fist fights that really hadn't needed to happen. It wasn't the small repeated pecking that hurt the girl and would keep her down, it was the slow but carefully placed attacks that hit hard in sensitive places that would leave the bigger girl defeated on the ground instead.

As predicted, Takira got up, wobbly as she was from the roundhouse kick to the head Narumi had given her, but she was standing none the less, and more than ready to try taking on more.

A shake of the head, a malicious grin, and a nasty fire in her eyes was all Narumi needed to see before she felt the telltale signs of a headache coming on. This was going to be an unnecessarily long match. Why, oh why, did the teachers pit her up against the only student that probably outmatched her in stubbornness and self-determination.

"YAAAGGGH!" The loud yelling was her only warning before she found herself at the brunt of a third headlong charge made by the other girl.

"Kami-sama have mercy on me... He-YAH!"

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Her temper was at an all-time high at the moment, she still had a headache from the match with Takira Kumuso. It didn't help that Shikamaru was being unusually quiet, simply staring determinedly at her arm as he continued to bandage up her "war-wounds" as it were. By contrast to the silence that surrounded them like a thick blanket, the rest of the classroom was being obnoxiously loud. It was grating on her last nerve, and she was very sure that she was five seconds from pinning them all to the wall and slowly… Her thoughts were interrupted as Shikamaru suddenly spoke up, causing her to blink as she somehow managed to drag all of her attention away from her far too talkative classmates and place it all on the suddenly talkative Nara and the surprisingly calming air that surrounded him.

"Troublesome woman, ignore them. They're all just a bunch of overtly chatty idiots in the end. You'll just get yourself in trouble." She could understand what he was getting at, she was still bruised up from her battle with Takira anyways, and adding to the injuries wouldn't do her any good by starting a big fight with her classmates before she even got a chance at the final part of the test. If she wanted to pass, she needed to at least stay calm for another hour or so. Than not only would she have passed the genin exam, but then she'd also be out of this suddenly far too cramped room and the far too noisy students around them.

"But still… I know she did bad, the way she lost definitely wasn't glamorous…" She found herself going quiet as some of the girls she understood to be love-struck with the youngest Uchiha walked by, gossiping with each other and at the same time insulting the currently absent Kumuso girl. She hadn't been well liked to begin with, one of the few girls in the classroom that hadn't fallen head over hills for the aforementioned "genius", which had earned her the ire of the others when she had insulted his hair and called him an idiot the very first day she had met him. It hadn't helped her at all with the humiliating defeat she had suffered, and not by the hands of an enemy, but by her own clumsiness.

As Narumi predicted the match had gone on for a long time. So much so that the teachers had been about ready to stop it, once they had realized that it was an hour after twelve and the two were still going at it. In the end there had been no need, for the one that had actually been dead set on keeping it going for as long as need be until she won, ended it herself, and in probably the most humiliating way possible for a shinobi in training. She had been running at her in what had probably been the umpteenth headlong charge with little to no coordination to begin with, and without warning, had tripped over her own two feet and came to a skidding halt, on her face no less, right outside of the ring. She had been disqualified and lost the match for going out of bounds, and in the end had needed to be escorted from the ring by another teacher, tears coming down in rivers from her eyes as she was taken to the infirmary to get her injuries looked at and taken care of.

Their classmates were still laughing about it. As if it were funny, a comedy, the very definition of utmost hilarity. Narumi would be the first to admit, she hadn't been particularly fond of the girl either, but more so for her own antagonistic behavior towards herself rather than for anything she had said or did to anyone else. But not even she was this cruel, this mean, this nasty. She knew what it was like to suffer such a humiliating defeat, understood very well what it was like to loss simply because you were a little ungraceful or uncoordinated. She knew for a fact that a good number of students currently mucking it up over the whole affair had suffered the same fate, and far more often than even Takira had.

A good number of those had even had their butts handed to them but the bigger, more brutish girl herself. Takira had been nice to them though, and even though she could've rubbed their defeats by her hands in their faces, she hadn't. Takira may have been mean and nasty at times, but to further encourage Narumi's belief was a descendent of samurai, she had honor to some extent, and though she hadn't widely shown it, she had never rubbed a victory in the loser's face, never bragged about it, but simply looked at her opponents and then walked away. Never looked down on them, never sneered at them, never begrudged them at thing or told them how meager and unimportant they were. She looked at them, as if they were her equals, and simply turned and walked away, sometimes even giving a respectful nod of the head.

For however horrible she usually was, she didn't deserve to be laughed and mocked at like this.

"Tsukuyo Narumi," She blinked, shaken from her thoughts by one of their teachers calling her name. "Narumi, it's time for you to take the jutsu portion of the test. Come here please." She got up, expression still pensive, still tight.

"Hey Narumi."

"Nara Boy? Why did you-?"

"Good luck." Narumi simply nodded her head, before walking into the other room.

"Ok Narumi, first, show us your transformation jutsu."

"Transform!"

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A/N. Ok, so that was longer than I had originally thought it would be. But I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! I'll try and update soon-ish, but in the meantime please leave a review and tell me what you guys think. Thanks for reading and see ya!


	5. The Genin Exam Pt 3

A/N. Ok, so here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it and thanks for reading!

To LXS: Thanks for reviewing again. Is it odd that I actually look forward to seeing your reviews? They are so detailed and tell me so much, I like when people are detailed with their reviews, most people leave it really short. Of course I like when I get reviews period, but when I get detailed ones, I feel kinda special in a way, they are kinda rare. And I'm rambling again, sorry about that. Um… Quick question, the first part of review made some sense but not a whole lot. I managed to figure out the furor and tears are shed thing, but the very first part kinda went over my head. Do you mind elaborating a bit?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**EP 4: The Genin Exam Pt. 3**

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"You okay?" She couldn't blame Shikamaru for asking such a question. She probably looked like she was very sick, expression tight and pensive, and arms wrapped tightly around her stomach like she had the feeling she was about to throw up. It didn't help at all that it felt like her stomach was doing somersaults and an unnecessary amount of backflips. Something bad was going to happen, and she wasn't entirely sure what to do about it.

Kaede had explained to her about situations like this, 'gut feelings' she had called them, and how they were a symbol of her more basic instincts acting up. Kind of like a red alarm or a siren of sorts, telling her that there was trouble afoot, something was wrong, and that she needed to be careful until the bad feelings that made her feel like she was going to throw up went away finally. She had always reminded her to listen to what her gut tells her to do, that there was nothing more trustworthy, not even ones closest friends and family, than one's own instincts. No matter what form they took. Kaede had told her stories of the numerous times her instincts acting up in the form of a searing headache had saved her skin, if only to further the obvious point of one of her many lessons she had all but drilled into the twelve year old's brain. Listen to your instincts; they are your most valuable weapon and most trustworthy ally.

More than one situation had proved the old woman right.

Whatever was causing this little episode was far worse than any of those however, as she found her weight being supported by a suddenly very concerned Shikamaru, her own expression contorting in obvious pain and discomfort.

"Hey Shikamaru, what's up with Naru?" The other looked up, expression quickly settling back into one of concern as another friend of theirs, Choji, joined them, taking the seat next to Shikamaru and looking at the currently pained girl with an expression of obvious concern.

"Don't know, she just started looking sick all of a sudden." The other responded, hovering protectively over their female companion like a worried mother, or as Choji silently dared to entertain the thought, an overprotective boyfriend. The bigger boy would've never mentioned it aloud however, Narumi, no matter how sick she might've felt, would beat him to a pulp, only worsening her own condition and managing to exasperate and at the same time fluster Shikamaru. The latter was hilarious and rather tempting, but he would rather avoid an angry Narumi if at all possible.

"You think it might be one of those 'gut feelings' Old Lady Kaede is always talking about?" Shikamaru grimaced at the question; it was plainly obvious as to what he thought of that prospect. They both knew of her strange gut feelings and how they seemed to appear at the oddest and sometimes the most inconvenient of times, leaving the poor girl writhing in discomfort as her stomach unsettled itself and twisted and turned until knotting up, leaving the poor thing short tempered and ill-mannered. In short, she became very difficult to deal with.

If it really was her instincts acting up again, than whatever it was trying to warn her of was very serious indeed. Without a doubt, it was for more worse than all the other times it had acted up, the reactions had never been this bad before.

"Should we tell Iruka-sensei?" Shikamaru debated the idea in his head. It was valid and decent, but the chances of the kind man believing them were miniscule at best. The very idea that a little girl, just freshly graduated from the academy, could predict the future to some extent was ludicrous at best, a joke in and of itself. There was no way the man would believe them, or the fact that something bad was going to happen. It was more likely that he would brush it off as a sudden stomach virus or something of the like, and have one or both of the boys escort the ailing girl to the infirmary to have her checked out.

Choji knew Shikamaru well enough, had known him at least two years longer than Narumi herself had. Shikamaru didn't need to elaborate on his thoughts for Choji to understand that no matter how tempting the idea was, or how good an idea it sounded, it would not work in the end.

"Hey," Both boys watched, their worry only escalating as the poor girl groaned in pain, curling in on herself in hopes of alleviating the agony she was being forced to experience. "Narumi, I know you're in pain here but listen, ok?" The girl just barely managed to nod her head; she had heard them at least. "Do you know what exactly you're sensing here?" Narumi shook her head, gritting her teeth as she barely managed to mumble out an answer.

"No… I think I know the time though… Roughly…"

"When?"

"Tonight… Definitely tonight…" She pushed herself off of Shikamaru, growling to herself as she forced her stomach to calm down finally and stop its rolling about. She refused to let her instincts put her down, it was unbecoming of a shinobi, and it would only get in the way. If she wound up crippled every time she got a bad feeling she'd only be useless in the end. She needed to control them instead of them controlling her. With a sigh, she finally got her stomach to calm down, her instincts becoming nothing more than an insistent buzzing in the back of her head that refused to be forgotten or go away. "It'll happen around the Hokage Tower… I think…" She finally continued, whispering low so that the other students wouldn't hear their conversation.

"The Hokage Tower… But that place is so well guarded…" Choji's expression immediately turned to doubt, if it was a bad situation then the anbu who constantly stood guard over the location would handle it no doubt. The Hokage was there to, and that man was particularly strong no matter his old age. The situation shouldn't be one to worry about then, but if that was true, then why was Narumi getting the full brunt of probably her worst episode yet.

Narumi looked at Choji with exasperation, and Shikamaru himself seemed to be nearly mirroring the same expression.

"Choji, the anbu headquarters is also a well-guarded location in the village. Most people, most shinobi don't even know where it is unless they themselves are anbu. I snuck into there and stole ten of their masks and three cloaks, and they hadn't even noticed until a week later when I finally decided to make use of the masks in a prank."

"Oh yeah… The Ten Mask Shops Incident… I remember that, all ten of the shops involved were shut down until they could figure out how the hell a bunch anbu masks wound up inside for all to see. They never did figure out the culprit… Wait, that was you?"

"Of course it was me Cho-Cho, I had a little help from Nara Boy here, but still. You get my point right?" The bigger boy wilted visibly as it all clicked in a matter of seconds within his head. He understood the implication. True, Narumi had had assistance from Shikamaru, both with the prank and the stealing of the masks and cloaks in the first place, but the gist of it was pretty much the same. If Narumi could break into the Anbu Headquarters undetected, than who was to say that another couldn't do the same to the Hokage Tower.

The air around the three immediately turned into one of quiet trepidation. If anyone had noticed, they had been smart in staying away.

"So what do we do?"

"Narumi, you're the one that's best at coming up with plans on the fly." Narumi blinked as both boys turned to immediately look at her.

"Wait. You guys are coming with?"

"Not like we can stop you from going all by yourself. If not for your curiosity, than you'll go to at least settle down those instincts of yours. Better to go with a couple of friends than by yourself."

"You two are absolute idiots, you know that right?"

"Troublesome Woman."

"And hey, we're _your_ idiots, you're the one that hangs out with us." They both smiled as Narumi sighed in exasperation. There was really nothing she could do or say to counter that argument. It was true. They hunched over around their desk, Narumi pulling out a notebook she had on hand to go over an at least rough sketch of a plan. Shikamaru could work out all the kinks, and Choji was good at bouncing ideas back and forth. They could come up with something that would work.

It seemed that tonight, instead of hanging out and celebrating with family and friends, they'd all be performing their own self-assigned mission. Oh the trouble they would get in.

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A/N. Ok, so by comparison, this chapter is shorter by good thousand or so words than the last one. I wanted to make it longer, but I guess my brain decided otherwise. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. See ya!


	6. The Genin Exam Pt 4

A/N. Ok, so I finally update! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

To LXS: Ah, ok! Now it all makes sense. Now, as for your questions, and this is under the assumption that your speculations on Narumi's gut feelings are in fact a question, to answer the first one, it is actually a mix of the two. This is more speculation really, but assuming if Narumi or even canon!Naruto were to have these "gut feelings", than most likely the demon fox would've been at least somewhat stirred to semi-awareness by this and therefore reacted. Now it probably wouldn't take the form of a stomach ache, but that's how it worked out in this fanfic, and so that is what I, as a hopefully very flexible authoress, shall work with. And as for the whole security thing, they have enough man power, and security is tight, but Narumi's a little sneak and able to out-maneuver most anbu rank shinobi, and with Shikamaru's tactical genius being enlisted in all of her little devious pranks, well, she's not the most easily caught of "criminals". Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

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**EP 5: The Genin Exam Pt. 4**

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Narumi had nearly forgotten just how scary the village could be at night. Everything looked so much more fearsome when shrouded in darkness and only barely illuminated by the light of the moon. It all screamed danger in the end, and every shadow wound up taking on a life of its own, big or small. It reminded her of when she herself had been one of those shadows, sneaking around like a rat in the darkness, scavenging for whatever scraps those more well-off than her had left behind on the side of the road, digging through garbage and just trying to survive on a day-to-day basis. Back when she didn't have a home or any place safe to hide in.

All sorts of childhood nightmares had been a possible reality for her back then.

She had to constantly remind herself that she wasn't five years old and living on the streets of the village anymore, that she had a home to return to and that she wasn't out there on her own. She had her friends, Shikamaru and Choji with her right now, and no one would dare to try and attack her when she was being accompanied by two clan heirs, no one with any sense of self preservation, or common sense for that matter, would attack her even if they weren't by her side. She was a shinobi of the village now, and though she wouldn't attack them, wouldn't even entertain the thought of doing so, they had been afraid of her to begin with. The very fact that she had the skills to pass the academy's genin exam meant that probably one of their worst fears had been realized. The "demon" as they so often called her, was a bigger threat to them then she had been before.

"Gut feeling still acting up?" Narumi rounded on the two boys so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, causing the other two to blink at her in barely hidden surprise. "You're getting really fidgety there." Narumi sighed, fighting to calm down her already frayed nerves. It seemed that the past day had been anxiety attacks one after the other.

"Sorry, just…"

"Some bad memories?" Choji finished for her, reading the poor girl's facial expressions like a book. It scared her sometimes, just how empathetic the friendly boy could be was somewhat disturbing, but it had also been what had caused her to get so attached to him when Shikamaru had first introduced the two to each other. Fast friends if the term had ever actually applied to any real situation. She was dragged away from her own thoughts once again by a hand on her shoulder, her eyes following the offending limb from the wrist all the way up to a shoulder which was attached to the forever lazy Nara heir.

"You're not alone, remember that." Was all he said before he, for once in his "as little effort used as possible" life, took her by the wrist and began dragging her along, Choji trailing behind at their heels, bag of chips in hand and chomping away the whole entire time.

"Yeah, we're your idiots, remember?"

"Shut up, both of you." The suddenly friendly atmosphere was relaxing, and the three basked in it while they still could, relishing in the innocence childhood and the wonders it brought with it provided. While in that time, Narumi was reminded ceaselessly that no matter what happened tonight, they would still be her friends, they would still be attached to each other's' hips, still be as closely knit together as siblings. They were her friends, her precious idiots, if she even dared to go so far, she could even say they were her family.

They all knew though, were fully aware that the happy times were going to end soon. They were on a mission, and though it wasn't assigned by the village leader, or any one of any sort of importance or higher rank what-so-ever, it was still very dangerous. The chances of getting caught and prosecuted as traitors was far too high for any of their liking. Choji and Shikamaru themselves weren't just placing their own lives on the line either, there was a high chance their respective clans could pay the price for this bought of recklessness, and it would be their entire fault. All the same, here all three of them were, genin fresh out of the academy and not even having been placed into their respective squads yet, though it was very likely that Choji and Shikamaru would be placed in a squad together. That much even Narumi knew was inevitable, and most likely the Yamanaka heiress would be put in the squad with them. Narumi herself, would probably be placed in a completely different team, either a group that those in charge thought held no talent, or if the hokage were in charge of groups, than maybe the group with the Uchiha heir.

"Um… Naru, sorry to interrupt that probably really interesting thought bubble of yours… But…"

"We're here." Both boys barely managed to contain their own screams as their reached out, hands immediately hooking onto the backs of their respective shirts and dragging them into a nearby alley and over several rooftops before finally coming to a halt. They had forgotten just how physically strong Narumi could be sometimes.

"Warn us next time?" The eldest of the three hacked out, rubbing at his neck as he tried to force his lungs into taking in some much needed air after nearly being chocked by his overtly energetic friend. From behind him, Choji chuckled, sounding almost as nervous as Narumi looked. The twelve year old didn't even look back at them for a few seconds.

"I'll think about it…"

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A/N. Ok, so sorry for the long wait. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading. I was gonna make it longer, but my brain wasn't very cooperative, sorry about that. Anyways, please leave a review and see ya!


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